As a purist I think its a bad idea to dilute the competition by letting in the teams that weren't good enough to make the top 16, but as a football fan that loves the game, I know some of the upsets and so called 'smaller' matches can be some of the best football in a tournament. I'd be interested in seeing how it goes

If the position in the group table will be tied to the seeds when sorting the draw of the Euro finals, then you will see the same commitment from the big guys. Yes, if you are England probably you won't have a problem coming out 3rd, but you wouldn't want Germany or Spain in your group during the finals.

The "big boys" always make the finals more interesting. I see no reason why not make sure they are in no matter what. If anything I see more surprises with them being beaten by otherwise middleweight teams during the finals.

Fair point, you're right about the seeding and that is definitely an incentive not to do too bad in the qualifyers. But my whole point was indeed about what you said in your last sentance. So basically UEFA making favourable conditions for the big boys, not for the sake of secretly rooting for them, but to ensure the financial benefits that comes along. Anyway, the main reason why I have a problem with this change is that it makes me sad that in football nowadays, there is more and more emphasis on making money, and these people who runs the show are becoming less reluctant to change things (and yet they talk about tradition when it comes to things they don't want to change) just because it suits them financially. I wonder how much corruption goes on there and whether we will ever find out

So, UEFA has decided to create extra spaces (from 16 to 24) for the 2016 Euro, thus allowing 8 more teams to qualify. What is everyone's opinion on this?

Personally, I'm very dissappointed with this change. The official reason for this seems to be to allow more middle-ranked countries to participate in the finals. But is this really the true reason behind it? I happen to be very suspicious of UEFA and I automatically thought how now it will be almost impossible for top teams to not qualify. Is UEFA trying to avoid another "England"? Also, what will this mean in terms of financial benefit for UEFA? More stadia, larger attandences, more TV rights sold, etc.

As for the the football side of things, what impact will it have on the general level of excitement, both during the qualifyers and the final tournament? This will mean that 3 teams from each qualifying group will go through. Have you ever seen teams like Spain or Germany ending 4th in their groups? Until now, those qualifying matches could get very exciting and tense, especially if the top teams weren't at their best. But it seems that with this new format, almost all drama involving top teams will be gone. Similarly, in the actual Euro Cup, teams like Italy and France will actually be allowed to be s**t and still go through to the knock out rounds, cosidering most 3rd placed teams will now have that opportunity. Also, the 24 team format itself just seems messy to me as well as somewhat unfair (not all 3rd teams will pass the group after all).

In my opinion, this is not about increasing the chances of success of mid-level teams but decreasing the chances of failure of top teams (we all know UEFA loves the big boys) combined with some nice financial benefits for the beloved Organization. What do you guys think?

It is old news, but my opinion would be NO. Even though it would probably benefit my own country, I still wouldnt agree to it. Simple reason being, it would bring the level of the finals down, as you have 8 more crappish teams, and stupid scorelines, so I don't think it would benefit the tournament

4 years ago

Didn't mean to come across curt, apologies if it sounded that way. At least its not another topic about Cristiano Ronaldo and/or Lionel Messi I suppose!

The more football the better in my opinion, and it gives the smaller teams a chance to play on the bigger stage. In the World Cup, due to the qualifying zones, we see plenty of low ranking teams in the group stages and I don't think that makes the tournament worse - on the contrary

No worries, It didn't sound that way. I realize it's been a while since they made the decision, but it's something that's been bugging me for a while. I also love seeing low ranking teams on the big stage, they might lack quality but they always fight to the last breath. But that's exactly my point, lower teams are becoming more and more compatative and UEFA are scared of the big dogs failing, hence giving them a bigger chance.

Then again, maybe it's just me being paranoid and they genuinely care about the underdogs